Judicial nominee's donations draw ire

Republicans have mounted a vigorous attack against a district court nominee whose family donated nearly $700,000 to Democratic candidates and causes, including thousands of dollars to the two Rhode Island senators who recommended him for the job.

Providence attorney Jack McConnell’s political donations dwarf contributions made by other Obama court appointees, leading Republicans to question whether big-time donors could create a conflict of interest in a neutral federal judiciary.

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And while it’s common for political appointees, such as ambassadors, to be heavy contributors to the presidents who nominate them, the sheer level of McConnell’s giving to Democratic campaigns has added to Republican complaints about McConnell’s nomination to serve on a U.S. district court in Rhode Island.

“This gentleman is one of the largest fundraisers to the Democratic cause,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a Judiciary Committee member who voted against McConnell, told POLITICO. “I think there well could be the appearance [of] a conflict of interest there.”

Since 1993, McConnell and his wife, Sara, have contributed $694,000 to Democratic campaigns and committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political contributions. That includes $15,530 to Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed and $12,600 to Sheldon Whitehouse, the state’s junior senator.

The McConnells also donated $157,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee since 1993 and an additional $47,500 to Senate-related campaign committees.

Reached by phone Monday, McConnell, a partner with Motley Rice LLC in Providence, declined to comment for this story. Last week, the Judiciary Committee, along a mostly party-line 13-6 vote, recommended that McConnell be seated on the bench. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham was the only Republican to join the Democrats.

Records show that political contributions given by other recent Obama judicial nominees pale in comparison to McConnell’s:

• Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has donated $12,050 to Democrats, more than half of which went to President Barack Obama.

• Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu, a controversial Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals nominee, has donated $4,350 to Democrats, including $1,000 to Obama.

• Superior Court Judge James Boasberg, a district court nominee for the District of Columbia, gave $1,000 to GOP House candidate Tom Liddy in 1999 and $750 to Democrats. Another D.C. district court pick, Amy Jackson, gave $3,000 to Democrats.

Many other nominees, including Catherine Eagles of North Carolina, Benita Pearson of Ohio and Louis Butler of Wisconsin, reported no campaign contributions.

The list above is not comprehensive but a sampling of judicial nominees and their donations.

Many of President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees also gave to Republicans, but a 2006 report by the Center for Investigative Reporting showed that none of Bush’s nominees in his first term approached the amount of cash contributed by the McConnells.

For example, federal appellate court Judge Deborah Cook of Ohio donated about $10,000 to GOP candidates and committees before her 2003 confirmation. She and her husband, Robert Linton, also gave $12,000 to then-Gov. Bob Taft, who backed her nomination. After Cook was seated, Linton continued to donate to Republicans, including $25,000 to a campaign committee run by Ohio Sen. George Voinovich.